Hit New Zealand musical trio Sol3 Mio have announced they will be releasing a full-length, self-titled album through Capitol Records this May, followed by a North American tour in late spring.
Sol3 Mio — pronounced Sole Mio — consist of classically trained and contemporary-influenced tenor brothers Amitai and Pene Pati as well as their baritone cousin Moses Mackay. This musical family is of Samoan heritage and became international starts after a breakthrough performance on New Zealand television in 2012. Their self-titled debut album featuring opera classics and modern favorites, has been No. 1 for 16 non-consecutive weeks and has been certified seven-times platinum, making them the best-selling album of 2013 in New Zealand, selling more copies than Lorde. It has landed at No. 6 in Australia and cracked the top 50 in the U.K.
At first, the trio formed for a party trick.
“We thought, let’s have a good laugh and drink,” recounts Pene, in an interview with Billboard. “When we did it, we pulled it off really well and people were saying, 'You should form a group.' Then later on the down the line we thought we should just form this group as a fundraiser to get to Cardiff to study [at the Wales International Academy of Voice]. And then break up again."
A 2012 performance on national TV ignited interest in the band, and "then it just went viral.”
But the trio’s success is more than luck: It is pure talent. Their musical backgrounds span from putting on weekly performances in their childhood homes to mastering the guitar and ukulele and earning bachelors of music from the University of Auckland.
It was when Moses and Pene sang in the choir behind Andrea Bocelli in 2008, however, that their eyes and ears were fully opened to the possibilities of opera, setting them on a course that would lead to the formation of Sol3 Mio in 2011. Sol3 Mio's new self-titled album will be available on May 5, 2015.
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